In Stitches
by fleetingthunder
Summary: He reached her without effort. She flinched when she felt a light graze on her forehead and tightened her closed eyes further when she felt a tug on her hair. Was this how it felt when you die swiftly? juuzouxkurona collection of one shots (may or may not be related). post-aogiri arc. Warning: Manga Spoilers
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'd like to think there's some significance when Juuzou didn't fatally wound Kuro. I ship Juuzou with many others, but I think these two would be cute.

Disclaimer: Ishida Sui is an awesome author and he owns everything.

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**In Stitches**

**Chapter 1**

**Kuro's New Friend**

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_Shinohara_

Shinohara sat on the far corner of Anteiku. He held a newspaper up to cover his face and continued eyeing the pair across the room.

He had been tailing his adoptive son and, he must say, the scene playing in front of him was a nice change of atmosphere amongst the endless mourning of deaths of coworkers since the end of the great Aogiri/CCG war.

After the hideous incident that left them both with a missing lower limb, Shinohara was quite perceptive that Juuzo Suzuya, the once unfeeling child, was slowly but undeniably growing emotionally.

Yes, the day he first woke up on his hospital bed had left him awry with confusion because of the flower on his stomach, but once he saw Juuzo eating a donut on the sit beside his bed waiting on him, he realized that there was something humane that was starting to flourish in the youth- confirming it, all the more, when the kid energetically pounced on him after noticing that he was, at last, already conscious.

* * *

_Kurona's Flashback_

There he was again standing at her front door. She pulled herself away from the peephole and stared at the door for a second before turning to cross her living room to go and continue about with the food preparation she was doing beforehand.

It's been months since he started visiting her. At first, she thought he came to eradicate her due to her past connections, but when she did open her door for him one time she was caught in surprise when her expectation of his usual creepy shota demeanor was shook out of her mind when his eyes widened upon seeing the door open and when he scratched his head in a shy schoolboy manner.

It was very uncharacteristic to say the least. He was an emotionless death god since who knows when. Not even the concept of childhood could erase that fact. Him ruthlessly killing cats, dogs, or even the smallest kind of insects in the CCG scouts' premises were proof of that.

So what was a shy schoolboy doing there waiting patiently at her front-steps?

For someone who killed her sister, he sure has guts.

The only thing that's confusing her now is how, she too, is not acting like herself.

What was she waiting for? Days with the chances of killing him had passed, but why was she still not acting out of anger.

On the first day he showed up knocking at her door, she was sure that the fear and grief overwhelming her was just her emotions preparing her for a bigger surge of anger, anger enough to even bring about the bloodlust she should have felt for his misdeeds. But when days passed that her expectations from both his and her own actions were all stunted with normalcy on both sides, she tried to stop the building routine by finally confronting him. Thus, that one time she opened her door for him.

And there he was, scratching his head, she recalls. Acting like there were no issues of death present between the two of them. Irritatingly, she asked him to leave. He complied without a word of protest, turning away as if he hadn't been waiting months for her to face him. The only confusing thing he did was frown like a baby denied of what he wanted, but he turned away nonetheless.

It was the end of the cycle, she thought. There would be no killer outside her front door the next day. She surmised it with vague relief.

The next day after that incident did come, and when she arrived from her new part-time job, the raven-haired girl was not quite expectant of seeing the same image of the boy sitting once again in front of her doorstep.

"Okaeri nasai, Kuro-chan!" The boy bounced to his feet, smiling at her as if she did not shooed him yesterday.

"What are you doing here?" She glared at him intensely. Wondering if the boy had lost his sanity-his usual sanity, anyway- in the midst of fighting in the war.

"Ne, ne. Don't be so grumpy, Kuro-chan." The boy continued to grin. The stitches on the corner of his lips stretched to accommodate it.

Kurona was still glaring at him when he moved to reach her where she's standing. However, a frightened look overtook her facade when she saw him pull something out of his pants' pocket. It glinted only a little, but Kurona assumed that it was his infamous dagger. She stepped back away as possible from him and closed her eyes in fear when her spatial senses told her that his fast pace had already made her efforts futile.

He reached her without effort. She flinched when she felt a light graze on her forehead and tightened her closed eyes further when she felt a tug on her hair. Was this how it felt when you die swiftly?

She felt a slight weight push her forehead. 'Papa?' she thought. Only her Papa kissed her on the forehead like that.

"Well, that looks good." She heard someone say in a happy tone. She blinked for a while, and stared straight at the eyes of the person right in front of her.

"What are y-" her question was cut short when he grabbed her hand and tugged her to follow him.

Kurona followed in a daze and looked at the hand pulling hers. His hands were big and too calloused compared to hers. It totally contrasted his facade. This hand—his wide palm, long fingers - was the hand of a man. The same hand like that of a - of- of her sister's killer.

She snapped out of her thoughts and pulled her hand away from the boy's.

"Eh?" The white-haired boy faced her in confusion. "Why, Kuro-chan?"

"Will you stop this right now?" She looked down with a grim face, failing to hide much of it because of the two clips he had put there to hold her long fringes. "CAN'T YOU JUST PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!"

She felt two hands run beside her waist and encompass her in a tight hug. He was taller than her but he had bent down to let her face rest on the junction of his neck and shoulders.

The girl, who was already too surprised with his overall change of heart, felt shock run through her spine. He was soft, and though she kept repeating that the person who held her was the same one who killed her sister, she can't help but notice how comforting his hug was.

"Kurona?"

She looked up to see Juuzou's wide curious eyes. He twisted his lips to a smile and kissed her forehead again as if it solved and explained everything.

"Iku yo." He slipped her fingers between his this time and pulling her, he led her to a coffee shop called Anteiku.

Kurona

She doesn't know why but that one moment became a series of repeated visits to the shop.

Suzuya Juuzou was still as unfathomable as ever. He was sitting across her poking at the cake that the old guy of the shop told them was the new creation of Anteiku.

A little guilt still bothered her when seeing him. But she pushed it away, praying that her sister would somehow forgive her.

Juuzou might be an oddball and an old ruthless killer, but he was changed. Somehow, that's what she could conclude with the times that she'd spent being dragged around by him.

She stared at him, thoughtful.

She could move to another ward and continue her life of peace without his constant pestering, but it's already been 3 weeks and she can't deny that his presence in her life is the only thing she's been starting to look forward to each passing day.

The alone times she had spent after the death of her sister made her independent. Open up, even, to learning new things alone for a change.

But maybe- just maybe- it's okay to let herself need someone after being alone for a long time? She was tired of being alone. Her bad records of her past life were strewn all over the television for a year and it made it hard for her to live on the 'peaceful' new world between the ghouls and humans. But Juuzou started bugging her when she moved to the 20th ward and kicked her life off her planned course. Maybe, it was time she could let someone in her life for a change?

The stitch-filled guy in front of her chomped down on the last pieces of the cake, and she laughed at the idea that he looked like 'L' from Deathnote, the anime that Nashiro have always liked when they were still young.

"Eh?" He looked up at her. "Ahahaha! Kuro-chan, Kuro-chan-"he laughed off again and pointed at her face.

She brushed it off thinking it was one of his usual weird antics.

When he did tone down his laughing, he reached for her across the table and wiped the side of her lips to clean a dark stain from her black coffee. As if not satisfied, he squinted for a second and neared his face to hers.

Her eyes widened.

* * *

_Shinohara_

He was keeping a close watch on the two, and it has been 20 minutes since he started smiling like an idiot as he continued to be a witness of the two's 'date'.

He was sipping his coffee with a smug smile when he saw his kid nearing the girl across him. He choked on his coffee and started coughing it out violently as he saw that what was supposed to be an innocent kiss was actually Juuzou licking the side of the girl's face.

Someone patted his back hard to relieve him of his coughing fit.

"Ah! It's you, Shinohara-san." He looked at the old man who served him in the past and widened his eyes when he realized how loud the old man had been.

Across the shop was a staring Suzuya.

"Kuro-chan." He glanced back at his still-shocked companion. "Leave the bill all up to me. I'll pay for your coffee!" He grinned his awfully creepy grin and called out to the two older men looking at him. "Yo! Yoshimura-san, charge my bill on that man."

Before Yoshimura could reply, the boy had already carried his protesting companion bridal style and jumped out the window.

Shinohara hit his forehead with his open palm in frustration. He should think about teaching the boy normal dating etiquette. Because Suzuya Juuzou's bad courting habits surpasses even that of the worst ghoul's.

* * *

To those who don't know:

Okaeri nasai = Welcome home.

Iku yo = Let's go.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Ishida Sui owns T.G. I own nothing

Warning: Chapter 122 manga spoiler. Also, this chapter is kind of rated M-ish but rating of the whole collection will be T so… on with the story!

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**In Stitches**

**Chapter 2**

**_Juuzou's Wound_**

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The drunk woman in front of him pulled at her own clothing, struggling to pull her Anteiku waitress's uniform. She stumbled and tripped on her fallen skirt when she tried to pull her one foot off it.

Juuzou caught her just in time, and looked away blushing in embarrassment when he caught sight of her cleavage.

Kurona giggled and made him look her at the eyes. She then kissed his forehead and the tip of his nose before finally diving for his lips.

"Kuro-chan, I-"

"Ne, Juuzou. Can't we try? Touka-nee-san was able to stop her body from feeding on their baby. Why can't we?"

"Kurona-chan i- it's not possible." Juuzou whispered with a downtrodden expression.

"Why? Is it me? Do you really hate my being a half ghoul!?"

"Kurona, no! I just-" he was cut off when Kurona kissed him fervently.

"Kurona! Wait! Stop!" he tried to breathe out.

Kurona ignored him and pulled off his shirt. He scrambled to stop her hands which was already reaching for the zipper of his now unbuttoned pants.

Kurona kept fighting him off and plunged in to kiss him again to distract him, but Juuzou was attentive and did not let his guard down.

When Kurona tried to fight him off again, Juuzou threw her on his bed in frustration and towered over her. He pinned her down and kissed her bruisingly.

He then voluntarily pulled off every last of his clothing and tried to learn every curve of the petite woman under him. He loved her so much. And if she leaves him after knowing his ugly secret, at least he wants to have something of her to ingrain in his memory.

Kurona pushed herself harder against him and heatedly kissed him back.

Juuzou flinched when her hand slid down his crotch.

Kurona paused in her ministrations and looked at Juuzou's face. His cheeks were with tears and his eyes were now closed.

"The ghoul who took me in." he muttered under his breath, tears continuing to flow. He hid his face away from her view by hooking his head on the nook of her neck.

"She- the woman I called Mama before CCG took me in- She did this to me."

Kurona traced nearer the junction of his legs, taking in the feel of the stitches and scars that blemished the oddly flat part of him. She pulled her hand off him, trying to take in what he had said.

Juuzou hugged her waist in fear of the indication of her hand retracting away from his skin. He was so disoriented but felt his world turn nonetheless when she reversed their position.

He felt his head cupped in her hands. He opened his eyes in terror as she gently tore him off her shoulder. He searched for the eyes of the woman above him.

His still tear-filled eyes widened in surprise as she started to shower him with tender kisses and trailed her hands all over his chest and abdomen.

She cupped one hand over what remains of the damaged part of his body and traced over his stitches and scars. She stopped on the slit she was able to locate and passed her thumb through it endearingly.

He would've been considered a woman if what he was lacking was anything to completely define his gender. But he was a man. Juuzou was _her_ man. He was hers.

"Juuzou?" she looked at his eyes which was filled with insecurity.

She made a light peck on his lips and placed a hand on his cheek making him look directly at her.

"I love you."

She neared her lips to his right ear. "I want to be with you, Juuzou. You're my man, and I don't care how much you're lacking. I may have wanted some kids because I got jealous of Touka-nee-san and Kaneki-nii but I don't need one if I can't have it with you."

She lifted her face to his snotty one and tried to stifle a giggle at the sight.

"Besides, who needs a kid if I already have one for a boyfriend."

With that, Juuzou Suzuya buried himself in the comfort of his girlfriend's chest. He sniffled and cried, burying all of his pains and insecurities in the embrace of the woman who he had come to love so much.

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A/N: My heart broke when I read about Juuzou's past so I came up with this. Can someone lend me their favourite plushies? It's still so hard to get over this, really. I almost cried in the middle of driving when I remembered it. Huhu


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Yep. Another JuuzouxKuro one shot.

**To my dear reviewers:**_usaronkachixx_ - I'm glad I'm not the only one who ships these two haha

_KitKat1412_ - OMG someone actually thinks something I wrote is cute. Thanks dear! :)

_QTPotato_ -Yup! Definitely continuing these daydream archive of mine for these adorable two. I'm so happy you liked my writing.

**Disclaimer:** Ishida Sui owns everything

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**The Perfect Match**

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A black cat stirred from its sleep when a whistled happy tune broke through the silence. Footsteps of a young man skipping down the street was heard. The cat hissed in irritation before leaping away to search for a new place to sleep in.

Juuzou paused on his way to Kurona's apartment to count the money he received from Shinohara an hour ago. He giggled when he confirmed that the thickness of the wad promised more value than the usual. _Kuro-chan! Lookie! I have more money now. _

_Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppp!_ "This should be worth it you filthy one-eyed. If your flesh doesn't taste as good as it smells you'll be damned with all the trouble I went through for you." A deep voice from the right alleyway stopped Juuzou from his contemplation.

Soft white tendrils swooshed gently as Juuzou turned his head to look at where the new reek of blood was coming from. He saw a guy more than six foot tall with a body builder physique towering over a bleeding woman. _Ghouls. _He was about to roll his eyes at the person who stopped him from savoring his accomplishment but his eyes took a sudden double take on the victim. The woman's head slipped a little from the pile of trash she was thrown on. Then everything looked dim to him. In a matter of seconds, blood spurted on his face and screams of agonized pain tickled the tunnel of his ears. His hands settled on the forehead and jaw of the man before a grotesque breaking sound filled the air. He remembered the sight of fear on the man's eyes before a weight was thrown on the back of his head and everything blacked-out.

* * *

"Rei-kun!" A little voice broke through the woods. "Rei?"

"Kuro-chan! I'm here!" A small boy popped from a tall tree's branch, his legs hooking on it while his upper body hanged upside-down.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" the raven-haired girl screamed in surprise with her body involuntarily falling in shock. She massaged her chest to soothe her heart as she realized it was only her friend. "Rei-kun can you please not do that? I almost had a heart attack!"

"Oh. Sorry, Kuro-chan." the boy pouted. He made a big swing to prop himself on a sitting position on the tree branch. "Kuro-chan, let's go to the river banks." he looked at his nightly companion while pointing to a distance off the grounds of the CCG property.

"But we're not allowed to go in that area. Let's just stay here, Rei-kun. At least here we can play peacefully without the worry of getting caught."

15-year old Kurona broke her usual indifferent demeanor, looked down on her hands, and fiddled with her thumb nervously. She heard a rustle from above then the snap of twigs on the ground. When she looked up from her hands, her friend was already dragging her with him.

"Come on! We won't get caught." Kurona looked at Rei's face. She stopped hesitating when she saw a genuinely excited grin stretching his lips. _Maybe. Just maybe… this risk would be worth it. _And she let herself be dragged because, for once, she wants to be irresponsible. Not for herself, not for Nashiro, but for the child she ignored when she started taking on obligations as the older sister and as the person who takes over the place of their deceased parents' responsibilities.

It had been five days since she started having these night meetings with him. She was having a bad case of insomnia that one night when it started. Strolling down the CCG grounds to tire herself, she hoped for sleep to come with the bodily fatigue she's indulging herself in. When she came to her senses that it was already late, she had reached the edge of the forest where he was.

Back then, she decided she doesn't want to be involved with the weirdo he looked like so she turned her back on him and was able to take the first few steps back. She was stopped in her tracks though. He had called out to her and she had no choice but to break her act of ignorance. Kurona was terrified out of her wits when she saw a numerous amount of blood specks on his face. To add to her horror, the boy was still grinning at her like what she saw was a normal everyday occurrence. A mewl startled her out of her trance. She directed her eyes on the bundle on Rei's hands and noticed a bloody cat with noticeable stitches.

"Ne, Kurona-chan. Can you help me clean Miyu?" Rei asked caressing the now purring cat cradled on his arms.

She stared at him dumbfounded with the fact that this guy with the funny star stitch below his right eye can talk to her so casually as if they met every day in class. She was even more startled with how he brazenly transferred the cat in her arms and proceeded to wash the blood on his hands, arms, and face with the water from the faucet near them. She opened her mouth to talk but was not able to formulate a coherent thing to say to the odd boy as he cupped a small amount of water on his hands and tried to clean the newly stitched wound on the white cat.

That night Kurona was left speechless the whole time. She saw the odd Rei in a whole new perspective, a perspective far from the theories the other kids conjured amidst his constant absences in class.

The next day after that, she had been able to sleep early. She was lying motionless on her bed, still as the night was outside the CCG grounds. She stirred unconsciously and then shifted some more. When she came to awareness that someone was poking her, she mumbled groggily at the person. "Nashiro, go back to sleep. We still have classes tomorrow." The finger didn't stop poking at her. Instead, it persisted more, and she rubbed off the sleep in her eyes feeling irritation. She stared at Nashiro's kneeling form beside her bed—only to realize that the white bob of hair plus the wide grin adorning the face beside hers was quite different from Nashiro's. Her body shook out of her blanket as she shoot up to a sitting position on her bed. Realizing that she was bare of brassiere, she grabbed the blanket back and pulled it up to cover her form. Blushing a rich shade of crimson, Kurona stared back at the curious look that adorned Rei's face.

"Eh? Do you have a fever, Kuro-chan?"

"Wha—what are you doing here?" she whispered so as not to wake the sleeping Nashiro, whose bed was just above hers. She gently shoved off the hand which he reached out to settle on her forehead.

"Miyu was looking for you so I came here to get you!" his face contorted to his idiotically happy grin, overtaking the curious look a minute ago.

"Okay, okay. I'll come out and go to Miyu. But can you please leave first? You're going to wake Nashiro up." using her sister as an excuse to get him out of their room, Kurona watched him jump out of the only window in the room after he mumbled a small enthusiastic "Uhn."

She doesn't know why she even bears with him, but these nights of being together continued and it became a habit of him either coming to her to pester her to play with him or her own feet leading her to him when sleep decides to run from her grasps.

* * *

On one night, Kurona unwittingly invited Rei to play Kendo with her. He nodded enthusiastically saying he doesn't know how to but that he wants to play with her, nonetheless. She decided to teach him and Kurona smiled as she realized how fun it was to see him struggle and learn the sport she loves so much. They were both enjoying their unequal match when Rei surprised her with a question.

"Why do you always make your matches equal with Nashiro, Kuro-chan?" Kurona was startled. It was only their first time doing Kendo together but Rei had already figured out a thing she had always hid from everyone else.

"Why do you say that, Rei? Nashiro is a great Kendo fighter too. Don't you think so?" trying to feign her innocence, Kurona asked him.

"I watched you one time when I was passing through the Kendo hall you were fighting in. I saw you ignoring Nashiro's opening when you had the chance to attack her."

"Rei-kun. Can you please promise not to tell that to anyone?" when she saw Rei nodding, Kurona continued. "I love my sister so much. I don't want her to ever feel inferior to me."

Rei looked at the girl before him, her Kendo head gear now gone from her shoulders. He lifted his own head gear from his shoulders and watched the bitter smile on her face when she told him her reason of why she had always tried having an equal tab on her Kendo fights with her sibling. _Kuro-chan's so beautiful. I wish she'd care for me too… _

* * *

"Kurona's coming to. Kaneki, get me a new towel and bowl of hot water for her."

Touka sighed as continued to nurse the feverish girl. Kaneki brought Kurona and Juuzou in their apartment hours ago, and the two was alarmingly bruised with Kurona's side bleeding profusely from a tear of flesh on her left abdomen. She had opened the door to the sight of Kaneki carrying the two on his shoulders. They were hanging like sacks of lifeless bags on him and the rain that started just a little while ago had already seeped through their dirty clothes. The blue-black-haired woman immediately got the situation and went into action to help Kaneki carry the two in.

Kaneki came in the room with the bowl and new towel. She accepted it from him and laid it on the bedside table. She wiped the girl's sweating forehead and neck. She was in the midst of wiping the curve of Kurona's collarbone when she felt the odd stiffness preventing her from wiping it smoothly. She raised the towel from the skin and there she saw crimson stitches forming one 'X' followed by three other vertical lines. It contrasted Kurona's pallid complexion greatly but Touka thought it suitable as the only "accessory" that she had ever seen on the girl's usual plain look.

* * *

**-ch 102 spoiler-**

"Rei? What are you doing?"

"Nashiro, Kurona! Good evening." the boy looked over his shoulder to greet them.

"Rei, aren't you sad?" Nashiro frowned at the grim smile pasted on his face.

"About what?"

"About that girl."

"Ah. She died?" Kurona frowned in disdain at the indifference of her 'friend'.

"Stop saying it that way. It feels wrong." Nashiro tried to tell him.

"Why? She 'just' died." Kurona felt repulsed at the unwavering grin. She thought the nights she had spent with him made her know him well. But his next sentence proved her wrong.

"How is that different from eating meals or playing?" His laughing tone made her want to puke. Is this really the boy who she helped, just days ago, to nurse a cat back to health?

"Rei, if that's a joke, it's not funny." Kurona tried to convince herself that maybe he was just having a mental lapse. The Rei Suzuya she saw in the past few days was caring, kind, and tender. How can he be this same boy?

"Annoying." His faced turned grim. Kurona felt fearful of him; it was the first time she saw him look like this. "Joke? What is a joke? Plenty of people die somewhere all the time. She's just one of them."

"Why?" Nashiro screamed at him. "Isn't she a friend from the same facility?-" Rei turned to them fully.

"You…that-"Nashiro stepped back as she observed the boy; his right shoulder and the side of his face was covered in fresh splashes of blood.

"What?" Rei asked casually, his orbs frighteningly round and wide. Nashiro turned and ran away from him in fear.

Kurona was frozen in her place, eyes still filled with disbelief as she tried to turn the gears in her head. Before she can utter a sound, a light purr resonated in the air. She looked at Rei's back where a tall tree stood, it was the same tree where he surprised her with his sudden appearance from its branches. The sound seemed to have come near it, and she tried to search the area around it. When her eyes finally settled, tears started brimming in her eyes.

On one of its branches, Miyu, the white cat they took care of together, hanged motionless, as if the last purr that came out of its mouth never happened.

Rei stared in horror as Kurona's eyes rested on their dead friend. _Kuro-chan, I'm sorry. I didn't do it, I swear. I didn't! I didn't! _Rei felt dread twist his intestines when she climbed the tree and reached for the cat. She didn't bother looking back at him when she turned to leave with the cat to a place where she can bury it. Rei cried when she left.

"_Don't tell anyone I killed it. Or else you're going to be the next I'll kill." the voice of the man echoed hauntingly, warning him of the danger he will put himself in if he talks to anyone about the man's killing spree. _

_Rei watched as he went off after killing Miyu in front of him, the blood of the cat had spurted ironically on his face and shoulders as if mocking him of the inevitable fate the cat he had just saved from the same circumstance had._

The agonized boy pounded the ground with his fist, tears continued to flow from his eyes. _Kuro-chan why did you look at me like that? We're friends right? You know I didn't kill Miyu, right?"_ His fist started to bleed but the boy took no notice of it. _It was that man! It was that man! You told me you believed me when someone told you I was the one killing the cats and dogs in the premises. What's the difference now? Why did you look at me like you hated me? Don't leave me Kuro-chan! _

_I just wanted to live! I wanted to live until you cared for me like how you cared for Nashiro! I was just scared he was going to kill me before you did…_

_Don't leave me, Kurona… Please…_

* * *

Juuzou was crying profusely in his sleep when he started to mumble unintelligibly. "Kurona… Please…"

Kaneki panicked as his cries for Kurona got louder. "Touka-chan. Touka-chan! Juuzou's crying. What do I do?" Running fast to his fiancée, Kaneki tried to explain to her what was happening.

"Idiot! Why did you leave him? You're supposed to be helping him calm down."

* * *

Juuzou shoot up from the bed as he remembered the last parts of his dreams. "Kurona-chan." he whispered like a scared kid. When he noticed the room to be an unfamiliar place, he jumped out of the bed and tried to search the place for Kurona.

His search was futile on the first and second rooms. He slammed open the third and last door in the hallway and ran in haste when he saw the young woman he was looking for. Ignoring the other people in the room, Juuzou took in her appearance searching for a fatal wound or anything that still might endanger her life.

Seeing none, he scooped her in his arms and tried to feel all of her. The boy cried in insecurity as he hugged her still unconscious form to him.

* * *

Kaneki and Touka was still bickering on how Kaneki shouldn't have left Juuzou on his own devices when they were stopped by two slams of doors. They found themselves gawking when at the third slam, the door to the room they were in was opened and Juuzou came running to Kurona.

They weren't used to the being shown the vulnerable side of the usually happy-go-lucky oddball so they were left in shock when the boy cried in front of them. They would have left him to ravish on his lover's presence if not for Touka's common sense telling her that the boy would be crushing Kurona's newly dressed wound open if she didn't go stop him now.

Kaneki had to punch the boy once again to knock him unconscious. He was getting tired of this drill, really. Juuzou's head was as hard as a rock, and to knock him out twice was not a treat even for his strong fists.

Kaneki sighed in exasperation. The first punch was to stop Juuzou from his own rampage when he almost killed that Mr. Big Guy, who he coincidentally recognized as the 'important link' to the remaining wild ghouls that the CCG had been haunting for. It would've been a mess for Shinohara-san if Juuzou had killed their only lead to the destroyers of peace between the ghouls and the humans the CCG were currently trying to create. His logic told him that the punch was reasonable, especially when Juuzou went all out and became self-destructive.

But to punch him while he was feverish and hysterical? He wanted to drown in guilt. He looked at the stitched guy apologetically. _Sorry, Juuzou. It was for your own good. You were going to tear open Kurona's wound, you know? Besides, if I didn't stop you we'd both be fed to Tsukiyama if you did frustrate Touka-chan by doing so…_

Kaneki observed the boy, who was unbelievably the same age as him. He looked childish but Juuzou amazed him.

He tried to become a brother to Kurona when she first came in to Anteiku. He felt obliged as another one-eyed hybrid who shared the same ghoul origins as hers, but the younger woman never dropped her poker face in his presence.

To say he was surprised, when he saw Kurona's lips twitch into an almost unnoticeable smile when he told her that a Juuzou Suzuya from CCG was looking for her, was an understatement.

The girl beside Juuzou stirred in her sleep, her face unconsciously shifting to place a hair's breadth between her lips and Juuzou's forehead. Juuzou also stirred from the disturbance. His forehead bumping her lips for a second as he hugged her arm nearer him.

Kaneki almost laughed at the two's antics. He might have successfully knocked off Juuzou and got him to let go of Kurona's wounded part but the guy was stubborn enough in his sleep to even grab one of her arms and clinged himself to it. He tried to pry him off but when Touka walked back in the room to see his predicament, she just told him to let the guy savor what he can get.

Kaneki closed the door to the room. He smiled as he thought of how Hinami called him and Touka 'a match made in heaven' one time. He would've believed her then when the chaos with the CCG and the Aogiri made every decision he made for Touka and himself felt so heavy and everything he fought for their relationship felt more relevant than any other thing in the world. But remembering how Juuzou frantically searched his home for Kurona and how he hugged her like a lifeline, Kaneki thought… _No, Touka and I are the ones fortunate enough to be 'tied by fate'. The real 'match made in heaven' are those two…_


End file.
